Hartford Merchants, Residents To Meet

Groups To Seek Common Ground

Community activists will meet with merchants this week in an unusual gathering aimed at creating alliances that could play roles in key neighborhood and city issues.

Organizers hope the Friday session broadens merchants and residents' views of each other. Organizers said they seek to have each side recognize that mutual interests outweigh exclusive ones.

``We hope this is going to be a beginning in breaking down that barrier,'' said Fran Reale, an event organizer.

About 1,200 invitations were sent out to block watches, neighborhood groups, merchant associations and chamber of commerce members. In addition, city government and regional agency representatives are expected to attend.

The gathering will be less a forum than a business networking opportunity for those attending, said organizer Fred Lehmann, Wethersfield Avenue Area Coalition president.

The event aims to lay the groundwork for residents and merchants to cooperate in solving problems. Organizers also hope to link merchants throughout the city, giving greater weight to their positions.

``There is an optimism that exists in the city. The perception of people in the city has changed,'' said Reale, owner of the City Fare restaurant and catering operation. Organizers are trying to springboard off that, Reale said.

Upper Albany Neighborhood Merchants Association members will be among those attending. The association's coordinator, Keith L. Carr Sr., said the success of such networking efforts depends on initiative.

``There's many ways for the effort to benefit individuals as well as groups,'' Carr said. Following up Friday's session and setting priorities will determine whether useful alliances are forged, Carr said.

A smaller-scale event 16 months ago convened various organizations from the city's southern neighborhoods and business corridors. That event attracted more than 100 people and prompted the creation of neighborhood problem-solving committees that brought together residents, merchants and city officials.

Event organizers are trying to expand upon that success. Organizers said they hope the approach brings together groups with checkered successes in tackling vexing problems such as noise, litter, abandoned properties, crime and sluggish business.

John Lupo Jr., a member of the city's economic development department and an event organizer, said the session is called a ``social'' to emphasize its informal nature. Organizers want to emphasize that improving the city for residents and merchants doesn't have to be daunting, Lupo said. It can be fun and satisfying, too.